Jason Merritt/Getty Images Entertainment
-
Parenting
Slideshow
-
Parenting
Stuff We Love
-
Global
iVoices
Aren’t you guys excited about the long three-day weekend coming up? Me neither. Because I can’t be the first to point out that summer just ended and for moms whose kids just started school, we finally got our lives back. Do we really need a holiday weekend a mere five days into the year? I’m all for recognizing hard work and marking the day after which it’s no longer okay to wear white shoes, but wouldn’t these lessons be just as effective coming from a teacher?
Even though she’s mega-rich and uber-famous, I feel a special kinship with Modern Family star Julie Bowen since she basically admitted to More that since she’s become a mom she kind of dreads weekends, too. Bowen, who has three boys under five with husband Scott Phillips, told the magazine “We’d be like, ‘Here comes Saturday. It’s going to be a long-ass weekend.’”
Right? We’re supposed to love weekends. The longer the better! Let’s all work four ten hour days and have three-day weekends every single time! Think of all of that fun, family togetherness-time! Except when you’re a parent, weekends can be exhausting. Long gone are those sunny Saturdays spent reading magazines by the pool, or leisurely Sunday morning strolls through the farmer’s market. As a mom, most of my weekends are a blur of frantic, kid-centric activity that usually includes (but certainly is not limited to) soccer games, barbeques and an endless parade of birthday parties.
Then there are house projects to tackle and chores to finish and a nonstop chorus of "Mom we’re bored what are we going to dooooooooo today...." to listen to. (That one can take up the better part of 36 hours.) On crummier weekends we have broken glass to sweep up and heads to comb for lice and pen pal/thank-you/apology cards to write. Of course I love my kids and my family and I cherish the time I get to spend with them. But weekends are long. Two days are plenty. Three is pushing it. On four-day “weekends” I’m climbing the walls, itching to get back into my routine and have a blessed break from my otherwise delightful children and their incessant bickering and relentless demands.
Maybe it’s working mom’s guilt that fills me with the pressure to pack those forty-eight hours with nonstop family fun. Maybe we go-go-go so hard and so consistently that we’ve forgotten how to just chill out and be. All I know is, when this Tuesday morning rolls around, my kids are the only ones who are going to be bummed about it.
